A post and core crown is a type of dental restoration required where there is an inadequate amount of sound tooth tissue remaining to retain a conventional crown. A post is cemented into a prepared root canal, which retains a core restoration, which retains the final crown.

After undergoing endodontic treatment, a tooth loses the nutrients provided by the blood vessels, leading to a decrease in its hardness. The hardness of a tooth is closely related to the amount of remaining tooth tissue, with the hardness decreasing as more tooth tissue is lost. When a tooth has significant tissue damage, it becomes more prone to fracture or difficulty in securing a dental crown. In such cases, a dental post is used by the dentist to reinforce the tooth and the dental crown by placing it inside the root canal of the tooth.